NotesGary Baker started painting full time from the age of seventeen.He has come from a family of Artists. His uncle Normand H. Baker was an Archibald Prize winner in 1937 and his father Alan D. Baker was a well known artist who painted professionally for over 50 years.Gary is a Fellow of the Royal Art Society of N.S.W.His approach to art is based on good drawing with a keen sense of colour and tone.

Interview with an Artist

by E.Baker

Gary Baker is a local artist from the Camden region south west of Sydney, he has been painting full time for 45 years now holding over 40 one man exhibitions around the country; most recently winning first prize at the 2008 Sydney Royal Easter show for one of his floral pieces.

I talked to Gary first hand about reasons why he paints, how he comes up with ideas, and how he believes his work effects and engages people. First and foremost Gary was raised in an artistic family, with his mother, father and uncles being professional artists; art was part of his childhood, in his blood. He immediately pointed out that he was not a “disturbed, passionate” person who used art as a type of therapy, more that it was simply part of who he was, having his first sell out exhibition at the age of 18, art is all he knows.

Gary loves the challenge of being an artist, saying that 'when done right' art allows people to aesthetically envision beauty, using images to portray a feeling; whether it be a feeling of a place, a being or even an object. After so long being an artist I asked whether he still paints for the same reasons he used to, he responded saying that “although the passion falls away some days, as it does in any job” he still believes that what he is doing is good and it is that belief that keeps him going. Gary believes he has a different view on art than most people, stating that he does not paint to educate people, and his creative process is not an abstract one, he paints aesthetically wanting people to see the beauty and take what they want from it.

Gary gets his ideas from many places, his travels, the land, flowers, anything that he sees. He mixes colours, scenes and looks to experiment with different types of artwork. He likes his artwork to have a calming effect. In this new digital age much of his work is produced sheerly from his own digital images.